La Soufrandière Pouilly Vinzelles les quarts° 2015

(from east/southeast-facing 45-to-80-year-old vines on hard Bajocian limestone at the top of a very steep slope): Bright medium yellow. Much more classic and subdued on the nose than the Longeays, relatively speaking, with its superripe but reticent yellow peach and ripe citrus flavors showing more mineral verve and less exotic character. Then juicy and penetrating in the mouth, displaying lovely, almost shocking acidity and excellent lemon-limey lift. With its bulletproof texture, this wine is almost painful today (there's also some CO2 to be absorbed) and really needs a couple more years of cellaring. Made from vines harvested on August 28 and 30; this may be a classic example of how the very hot last days of August and a strong south wind from North Africa concentrated both sugars and acids in many vineyards. Jean-Philippe Bret noted that the ground here stays moist even under very dry conditions owing to the organic life in the soil. Finishes with huge chewy extract and palate-saturating length.

The 2015 Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Quarts offers up notes of ripe apple skin and honeycomb. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and layered, with a generous, textural attack that's underpinned by juicy acids, concluding with a pure, mouthwatering finish. This is a generous, sun-kissed but nicely balanced Pouilly-Vinzelles that should drink well for the better part of a decade. Right now, it's a bit richer and more opulent than it seemed in barrel.